Page:Poems Barrett.djvu/50

Of those first laws affixed to form and space
Or ever she knew sin!
 Adam.We will not fear:
We were brave sinning.
 Eve.Yea, I plucked the fruit
With eyes upturned to Heaven, and seeing there
Our god-thrones, as the tempter said,—not God.
My heart, which beat then, sinks. The sun hath sunk
Out of sight with our Eden.
 Adam.Night is near.
 Eve. And God's curse, nearest. Let us travel back,
And stand within the sword-glare till we die;
Believing it is better to meet death
Than suffer desolation.
 Adam.Nay, beloved!
We must not pluck death from the Maker's hand,
As erst we plucked the apple: we must wait
Until He gives death, as He gave us life;
Nor murmur faintly o'er the primal gift,
Because we spoilt its sweetness with our sin.
 Eve. Ah, ah! Dost thou discern what I behold?
 Adam. I see all. How the spirits in thine eyes,
From their dilated orbits, bound before
To meet the spectral Dread!
 Eve.I am afraid—
Ah, ah! The twilight bristles wild with shapes
Of intermittent motion, aspect vague
And mystic bearings, which o'ercreep the earth,
Keeping slow time with horrors in the blood.
How near they reach . . . and far! How grey they move—
Treading upon the darkness without feet,—
And fluttering on the darkness without wings!
Some run like dogs, with noses to the ground;
Some keep one path, like sheep; some rock like trees;
Some glide like a fallen leaf; and some flow on,
Copious as rivers.
 Adam.Some spring up like fire—
And some coil . . .